For those who don't know, Brian and his estranged spouse Kalea Dunkleman have been battling over their 3-year-old son Jackson for a while now. The war took a turn for the worse earlier this month when B.D. took Jackson from California to his native home of New York where he successfully obtained an emergency order retaining sole legal and primary physical custody of the boy.

Immediately after the actor took the couple's son out of state, Kalea fired back with an INTENSE appeal to the judge's decision and legal separation petition on May 9, claiming her ex is "physically abusive" as well as "constantly angry". K.D. also went on to allege in legal docs obtained by People Magazine that Brian's characterization of her as a dangerous alcoholic is "markedly different" from the truth.

According to papers filed by Ms. Dunkleman, she did struggle with alcohol at some point after giving birth to Jackson due to the high stress of her job (the momma worked as a publicist for high-profile chefs), and the fact that she was the main provider of income for her family. Coupled with being a new mom, the responsibilities of her life simply became too overwhelming.

Former exec producer Nigel Lythgoe believes the time was right to pull the plug. He said:

"I'm grateful they decided to pull it. I'm likening it to a heavyweight boxer. You have to know when to quit. You don't want all these young kids coming along and knocking you out and taking all the credit. When you have been such a heavy puncher."

Nigel left the show to create So You Think You Can Dance, which this season adds former Idol judge Paula Abdul to its ranks!

Oh man! This has low-budget, direct-to-DVD horror flick written all over it!

The remaining American Idol contestants have reportedly moved out of the Beverly Hills mansion they were set up in at the beginning of the reality competition…because they believe that it's HAUNTED!

LOLz! No, we're not making this up. AMAZING, right?!

Source closes to production claim that the cast has repeatedly complained about lights flickering on and off inside the house, followed by an out of the blue spider infestation. However, the deal-breaker for them was when multiple people watched a bed sheet float down an empty hallway ON ITS OWN!

They then demanded that producers move them to a different location, to which they were obliged!

Poor guys! Didn't they realize that all the 'paranormal activity' is from the ghosts of contestants past?

Why do you think no one has seen Taylor Hicks, Kimberly Caldwell, or Sanjaya in a while?! Their spirits were trying to warn the newbies that their careers get trapped in that house once the show ends, too!

LOLz! Or worse! They could end up in purgatory - like Brian Dunkleman and Paula's prescriptions!

During Ryan Seacrest's inebriated escapades on American Idol this week, he made a pretty flat joke directed at former co-host Brian Dunkleman's current irrelevance!

Dunkleman, of course, responded by pretending to take the high road, but he still managed to take some equally flat digs at Secreast!

He says:

People really came to my defense, which is a satisfying thing. But it was a joke. Well, it was an attempt at a joke. But unfortunately for Ryan, instead of a laugh, he got applause. That’s never really been his strong suit. But it was a joke, and whether it was mean-spirited or not is irrelevant. A joke’s a joke; you can either take it or you can’t. And quite honestly, once you’ve had Jimmy Kimmel say in a monologue that you should be punched in the face, and at this point you’d probably be receptive to a knife in the gut, I think what Seacrest said was pretty tame.